


Sparkle

by kittensmctavish



Category: BuzzFeed Violet (Short Films), Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Dress Up, F/M, Fluff, Out of Character, Prom, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 08:21:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14765984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittensmctavish/pseuds/kittensmctavish
Summary: The missing scene from the “Women Who Never Went to Prom Choose Prom Dresses” video.





	Sparkle

**Author's Note:**

> So a video entitled "Women Who Never Went to Prom Choose Prom Dresses", featuring Sara, went up less than 24 hours ago (if I could link on this site, I would, but I don't know how), and there was a distinct lack of a “Shane’s reaction to Sara’s prom dress” in it (I can only presume because it was filmed while Shane was filming at Unsolved locations, maybe?). So I wrote a reaction. 
> 
> I know this sucks. I am le tired. Good night.

Most of the reactions to the prom dresses are filmed as a group. Sara, Nina, and Chloe – the three of them on this excursion of fanciness.

It’s to their friends, their colleagues, coworkers who never see them this dolled up ever (Sara, though the red gives her a boost of confidence, still feels a little awkward about showing SO MUCH of her shoulders.)

There’s one reaction she wants to get on her own. And honestly, she doesn’t know if she even wants it filmed.

But people will clamor in the comments if she doesn’t.

It feels like a shitty teen rom-com in some ways, she can’t help but think as she walks slowly over to a certain row of desks. The nerdy girl all dolled up, red lips, no glasses, approaching the guy she likes with a shy smile and eyes slightly downcast because she’s afraid of what his reaction will be. Yes, nine times out of ten, the reaction is the guy with a stunned, starry-eyed, mouth-fallen-slightly-open expression before uttering a breathless “you look BEAUTIFUL”. But her boyfriend isn’t the jock-with-hidden-depths in said rom-coms (which isn’t a bad thing - she prefers him just as he is).

(It helps knowing that Shane already thinks she’s pretty neat…and just…pretty in general.)

But there’s a vulnerability she can’t shake, even as she gets closer to his desk. Her shoulders feels especially naked now (which is ridiculous, he’s SEEN her bare shoulders before…but context is a bitch, isn’t it?).

Shane’s sitting in front of his computer, headphones on, typing away; Ryan’s at his desk, too, equally as focused on whatever he’s editing. Sara glances down at the viewfinder on the camera, makes sure she has her shot in place, before she waves her hand in Shane’s peripheral vision. She takes a breath just as he turns his head to see who’s waving at him. It catches in her chest as he registers her appearance.

She’d mentioned that she’d be doing this video some time ago, so it’s possible that he’d forgotten, and THAT’S why there’s this moment where he blinks, eyes a little wider than before. It’s…not concerning…but she flashes back to his reaction when she’s done the hair-straightening video. And how it wasn’t…positive? It wasn’t NEGATIVE, but…he’d just said “look at THIS”. And yes, he’d SMILED and LAUGHED, and later, he’d said “I didn’t say it wasn’t GOOD”. And to be fair, she hadn’t loved it all that much, either.

Before she can continue overanalyzing a video she’d done months ago, Shane takes his headphones off so he can stand up and the smile on his face is just…

Shane pokes Ryan in the shoulder. “Ryan, take the camera.”

Ryan blinks before turning away from his screen (with the intent of, Sara can guess, asking Shane what even the fuck, he’s trying to work) and noticing Sara.

“Wow,” leaps from his mouth. “Holy shit.”

“That bad, huh?” Sara jokes.

“Ryan, hold this,” Shane says, taking the camera from Sara’s hand and shoving it at his slackjawed friend. “I need to dance with this woman.”

“Really, Shane?” Ryan seems to have gathered his senses. “You couldn’t have dressed as nice as Sara for prom?”

“Hey!” Shane says in mock defense. “I’ll have you know this is my spiffiest flannel, thank you very much.” He adjusts the collar and tugs at the red-checkered button-down shirt, as though working out wrinkles.

(It is one of her favorite flannels of his. It’s comfy.)

“At least you had the decency to match,” Sara jokes, laughing as Shane pulls her into a traditional dancing position – her right hand clasped in his left, his right hand on her waist, her left hand on his shoulder.

“See, Ryan?” Shane says. “I am a good not-a-prom-date.” He begins to sway her back and forth, even though there’s no music.

“Forgot the corsage, though…” Sara sighs. “…which is fine, because I forgot the boutonniere, so it all evens out.”

“You’re gonna love the dinner plans I arranged for us,” Shane says, twirling her slowly (her hem is Long).

“Where are we going?” she plays along.

“Our place. I got takeout with those spring rolls you like so much.” Sara gasps.

“I love those spring rolls that I like so much!” Shane grins, pulling her closer.

“Did you rent a limo?”

“Nah. I stole the keys to the Worth-It mobile. We’re gonna hit up three different proms at three drastically different price points.”

“Oh my god,” Ryan cackles from behind the camera. “Steven’s gonna hate that.”

“Good,” Shane says bluntly. Sara been in giggles since the words “Worth-It-mobile” and had to lean against Shane for a bit. (She REALLY likes this flannel…it’s soft and smells like him.)

“So…it’s a good dress?” she asks. “The sparkles aren’t too much?”

“It’s a wonderful reflection of you,” Shane says, “because you possess the sparkliest of personalities.” Sara rolls her eyes.

“Am I pretty?” she asks, slightly teasing, secretly tense.

“I always think you’re pretty.”

“I know but…” Sara keeps her head against Shane’s chest, unable to look at him for this silly, vain question. “Am I the prettiest I’ve ever been in this dress? It doesn’t look stupid on me or anything?”

“I’m not gonna say that, because I’m always gonna think you’re the prettiest human being on this planet and probably several other planets.” Sara knows this, and sighs, hoping Shane can’t feel it. She knows these words, and she believes them…but it’s still not the answer she’s looking for. “That being said…” She looks up at him, backing away a little to get the best view of his face. “If we were in high school, and had gone to the same high school, and I were picking you up for prom and opened the door and saw you standing there in this dress…I’d think I was the luckiest boy ever.” Sara smiles. “And my hands probably would’ve been a little shaky pinning your corsage to your dress because I wouldn’t have wanted you to think I was trying to cop a feel…which I wouldn’t trying to be doing, because I am a gentleman. And yes, I would’ve rented a limo if you wanted one. And we would’ve gone somewhere nice for dinner, with at least three dishes neither of us knew how to pronounce. And at some point, I would’ve asked if you were getting cold and offered you my jacket, and then I probably would’ve thought you looked better in my jacket than I did. And we would’ve gotten our picture taken at the entrance and I would’ve paid for both our sets of ridiculously overpriced five-by-sevens or eight-by-tens or both, depending on what you wanted. And we would’ve drunk punch and danced and made sure to leave room for Cthulhu because the chaperones were watching, and it would’ve been a grand, clichéd old time because prom night IS a cliché but fuck it, clichés are okay sometimes.”

Sara kind of loves the picture he’s painted for her. Part of her wishes for…not A prom, but THAT prom. That specific one, with Shane. No other school dance she could have or would have gone to would top what that night with Shane would be.

And she doesn’t care that Ryan’s there. She doesn’t care that they’re filming. She raises herself on to her tippy toes, takes Shane’s face in her hands, and kisses him. Her lips are curled into a smile, and she can feel his doing the same, which makes her laugh a little into the kiss (well, that, and his arms moving around her waist and wrapping her into him even more). It doesn’t deepen beyond the sweet little moment that it is. But Shane, bless him, is tol, and she is smol, and standing on one’s tippy-toes for too long is painful, so she lowers herself out of the kiss, still smiling up at him.

“My high school dork of a self would’ve been too nervous to kiss you because you were so pretty,” Shane says, “so…I would have been hoping you would kiss me.”

“Well…knowing high school me, I probably would have been just as nervous,” Sara says. “I think the most nerve I would’ve been able to muster was reaching for your hand and holding it the entire limo ride home, not saying anything and just hoping that was okay with you while…some Taylor Swift song, probably, or something else that was appropriately fitting and romantic played over the radio.”

“Oh, high school me would have an internal freakout over you holding my hand,” Shane says, skimming a thumb over one of her bare shoulders. “If you were too nervous to make eye contact, that probably would’ve been a good thing because I would’ve been smiling like a damn idiot.”

“High school me DEFINITELY would’ve been too nervous to make eye contact,” Sara agrees. “Not even to say ‘good night’ when we pulled up to my house. But then once I got inside, I totally would’ve peeked from behind the curtain of my window to watch the limo drive away and then did that jump-up-and-down-and-squeal-to-myself thing that teen girls do in movies and stuff when they find out their crush totally likes them back or whatever.”

“Honestly? Same once I got home.”

Sara nudges him, laughing, then rests herself against his chest again. He is warm and her shoulders are bare and she’s starting to notice that bare shoulders equals getting chilled more quickly. He seems to notice, because his arms withdraw from her to take the flannel off, leaving him in a grey button-up she’d gotten him for his birthday. He drapes the flannel over her shoulders gently and smooths it out. She slips her arms into the comically-long-on-her sleeves and tugs it closer around her.

“I think I like this not-prom better than hypothetical prom,” she says. “I mean, we’re still gonna take the Worth-It mobile for a joyride, right?”

“I did promise you spring rolls,” Shane says. His arms are around her waist again, pulling her closer and pressing a kiss to her forehead. She smiles up at him and is about to raise herself on to her toes to give him another kiss when—

“Hey. Leave room for Cthulhu.”

“Dammit, Ryan, let me kiss my beautiful sparkly prom date,” Shane says.

“No. I’m your chaperone,” Ryan says. “I need to make sure there’s enough room between your years-past-teen-hormone-ridden bodies for a Great Old One.”

“God, you’re the worst chaperone,” Shane sighs.

“Chaper-Ryan,” Sara offers. Ryan groans.

“That’s my girl,” Shane says, kissing her cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback welcome and appreciated.


End file.
